Conferring of Honorary Degree
Candidate for the Degree of Doctor of Human Letters
Juan Andrade, Jr.
Recipient, Presidential Citizens Medal, 2001, for accomplishments promoting civic participation and leadership development
Community leader Juan Andrade, Jr. is a passionate proponent of education, social justice, and full political participation of all Americans. He channeled his passion into the founding of the United States Hispanic Leadership Institute (USHLI), of which he is still President and Executive Director. Established in 1982 and based in Chicago, USHLI is a national, nonprofit organization which promotes civic engagement, leadership development, and participation in the electoral process among minorities and other disenfranchised groups. Based in Chicago, USHLI organizes and conducts nonpartisan voter registration and leadership development programs in 40 states. Through its programs, it has trained more than 200,000 current and future leaders, registered 2 million voters, and published 425 studies on Hispanic demographics. The organization has also sponsored the largest Latino leadership conference in the nation for 25 years, each year welcoming thousands of participants from hundreds of cities across the United States.
The son of migrant farm workers, Andrade labored in the fields with his family picking crops in the unbearable 105-degree heat of Texan summers. His early experiences in the field fostered in him a profound respect for the dignity of work. As a civics teacher just out of college, Andrade was arrested for teaching his Spanish-speaking students about American democracy in their native language, which was then a violation of Texas state law. This injustice helped spark his passion for civil rights for Hispanics and his appreciation of the importance of education and political representation in raising the living standards within his community. During the late 1960s he became involved in voter registration efforts after seeing how a lack of political participation harmed Latinos. By 1970 he was state director for voter registration campaigns. Over the years, and as a result of his championing of Latino political participation in the United States, Dr. Andrade has worked for democratization in Latin American and Caribbean nations, including Mexico, Guatemala, Columbia, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Guyana, Suriname, and Haiti.
Dr. Andrade has been vocal about the importance to train and nurture leaders in the Latino community. For him, the success of this effort is grounded in education. He states, “As America turns more and more to the Hispanic community for leaders, we must be prepared to step up and meet that challenge and the key is education.” Dr. Andrade himself has been an example to young people, with five college degrees to his credit: a B.A. from Howard Payne University, an M.Ed. from Antioch College, an Ed.S. and Ed.D. from Northern Illinois University, and a post-doctoral M.A. from Loyola University Chicago. He has been recognized as a Distinguished Alum by Howard Payne and Northern Illinois Universities and he received the Damen Award from the Graduate School at Loyola University Chicago in 2002. Dr. Andrade’s work in the community has also been honored. In 2001 he received the Presidential Citizens Medal, one of the United States’ highest civilian honors, for his accomplishments promoting civic participation and leadership development. He has been recognized three times as one of the 100 most influential Hispanics in America by Hispanic Business Magazine. More recently, he was inducted into Society of Life Models by OMNI Youth Services in recognition of the impact of his work in promoting education and leadership development for high school and college students.
Through his life’s work, Dr. Andrade has consistently demonstrated courage and unwavering commitment to diversity, global awareness, social justice, and the development of the whole person—values that reflect Loyola’s Catholic, Jesuit heritage. His efforts to create and support educational opportunities for minorities and the disenfranchised also reflect the Ignatian tradition of ‘the faith that does justice.’ During an address given in 2002 at John Carroll University, another Jesuit institution, Dr. Andrade’s words echoed the Jesuit value of cura personalis when he said “We are not here for ourselves, we are here for others….My job is to help other people succeed.”